Once the young'uns of the New York-area Native Tongues
posse (De La Soul, Jungle Brothers), A Tribe Called Quest
proved to be its greatest and most consistent exponent.
While the trio's stunning debut quickly aligned them with
the others' formalist revisionism (an expansive range of
samples, from Lou Reed to Stevie Wonder) and attitudinal
adjustments (humanist consideration and good humor in place
of violence and misogyny), the effortless flow of raps by
Q-Tip, Phife Dog and Jarobi (DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad
completed the original quartet) suggested an inherent
rhythmic sophistication that would later manifest itself in
the group's innovative appropriations of jazz. Quest's
slightly fantastic and sometimes absurdist narrative acumen
masterfully guides the rhymes. Whether pleading to wild but
conjured dream girls ("Bonita Applebum"), fearing
cholesterol ("Ham 'n' Eggs"), telling shaggy dog stories
("I Left My Wallet in El Segundo") or offering bravado-free
self-portraits ("Youthful Expression"), People's
Instinctive Travels maintains a perfect balance of
style and substance.

Down to a trio with the departure of Jarobi, the band
made its real breakthrough on The Low End Theory
 fatback acoustic basslines lifted from old bebop
records (and a real-time performance by Ron Carter
on "Verses From the Abstract") and propelled by jeep beats.
Arguably the first hip-hop album to incorporate an
unfettered jazz influence, it's among the most artistically
successful of such fusions. Pairing roomy rhythmic patterns
and lots of tensile basslines with more of their simpatico
easy-flowing raps, Quest delivers a thoroughly enmeshed
blend that understands the rhythmic looseness of jazz
without imagining that hip-hop's beat rigidity can flex
enough to swallow it whole. The record finds them
broadening their lyrical scope as well: "Excursions" offers
a vision of unified black cultural achievement, "Show
Business" spews fumes of disgust with the music
industry, "The Infamous Date Rape" thoughtfully ponders the
complexity of refused sexual advances and "What?" spouts an
endless stream of twisted wordplay-soaked riddles. An
unqualified masterpiece. Revised Quest for the Seasoned
Traveller is a collection of interesting, varied
remixes of tracks from the first two albums.

Although Midnight Marauders builds upon the huge
advances of The Low End Theory, it can't help but
smother some of them. The jazzy fluidity remains, but
instead of the previous album's brilliant and economical
sense of space, this one brings the occasional gloppy sonic
overload. Ultimately, however, such complaints are minor;
the album catches Quest confidently tightening up previous
accomplishments, not just breaking the same impressive
ground.